LETTERS: 4 Autograph letters signed, and 1 envelope, to publisher R.R. Bowker.
MARY ANDERSON WRITES ABOUT MRS. CRAIK'S FUNERAL AND GENERAL SHERMAN ACTING IN SHAKESPEARE. 4 ALS's & one addressed envelope, all to publisher R. R. Bowker in New York. 10pp., 8vo & 12mo, signed variously “Mary Anderson”, and “Mary de Navarro,” London, Brussels, Cambridge (England), and Rome, 118871: Feb. 12th, 1928; Jan. 4", 1929; Feb. 26", 1929.
(ANDERSON), Mary (Mrs. Antonio F. de Navarro, 1859-1940). American actress.
An interesting series of letters to her friend, the American publisher, by an accomplished and popular actress who, because of a severe illness contracted in March, 1889, abandoned the stage permanently.
The first letter, four full pages, signed "Mary Anderson," although undated, dates from 1887 and is entirely about the death and funeral of Mrs. Craik, Dinah Maria Mulock (1826-1887), author of the famous novel John Halifax, Gentleman (1856). At the time this letter was written Miss Anderson was becoming the toast of London for the part she played as Hermione in A Winter's Tale which ran for 100 consecutive nights, part of a continuous season of ten months. The letter is written on Lyceum Theatre stationary "writing in haste at the Theatre?” She writes: "How kind of you to send the articles on Mrs. Craik for whom I had a very great fondness...Joe and I went to her funeral, and it was most impressive. I stood very near her coffin-my arm touching it during the service in the church, and it was very sad to realize that she could never greet me, with her dear sonny smile, and hearty embrace again. It took a long time to shake off the first great sadness of such a loss...” Mentions Mr. Craik's grief and says she was told Mrs. Craik's last words were “Leave the blinds up I love to look at the trees.” Mentions Mrs. Craik had seen her in A Winter's Tale and had expressed a desire to see it again only two days before her sudden death.
The second letter is about her visit to the World War I battlefield and cemetery at Ypres: “Yesterday I went to Ypres, & ‘no man's land' and in those places realized more than ever before what the war was. There are hundreds of cemeteries in this section...”
The third is about an exhibition of Italian paintings at the National Gallery: "...a wonderful thing for Mussolini to send so many pictures over...we go to France...to Rome..."
The fourth is a 2 pp. card: "I must thank you for your characteristically charming letter... Yes, W. Black was on the stage as one of my supers twice once in Romeo, & once in Winter's Tale, he was very nervous, & general Sherman went on as Super in my performance of Ingomar, & Guy Mannering. He was not nervous at all, but enjoyed it. Mr. Lewis is wrong. The General had not a scar on his face... One of the joys of Rome is that it does not change. Rome is Eternal & New York is New. That is the difference...”
Included is a 2 pp. copy of a TLS to an unnamed correspondent, written from Rome.
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